Aisha Tyler Breaks Down Over Her Divorce on 'The Talk' : I Don't 'See This Relationship as a Failure'

The pair were college sweethearts

Photo: CBS

Aisha Tyler addressed her split from husband Jeff Tietjens during an emotional segment on Monday’s The Talk.

News broke last week that Tyler, 45, and Jeff Tietjens were divorcing after more than 20 years of marriage, and the TV co-host said the couple had hoped to keep things private until the divorce was finalized. They separated in January 2015.

“That’s a very painful thing to go through and it’s also a really painful thing to go through in public,” Tyler said. “I’m sure you can imagine it’s pretty frustrating to have people talking about your private life who don’t know anything about it.”

The pair were college sweethearts and married in 1994.

“My husband and I met when I was a teenager and I’ve been with him for more than half of my adult life,” said Tyler. “It’s very hard when you love someone very much to also start to realize that maybe you want different things for your lives.”

Tyler said she and Tietjens tried to keep their split private because he is not in the public eye by choice, and she wanted to protect him.

“I don’t, not in any way see this relationship as a failure,” Tyler said. “We loved each other passionately and we lived life fully and we’re trying to let each other go in the kindest way we possibly can … that’s what I’m going to say about the relationship and the rest of it is none of your damn business!”

Tyler previously opened up up on The Talk in 2011 about their struggles to conceive.

“The hardest part is I really love my husband – he’s such a good person and he would be such a great father,” Tyler said at the time. “But we just decided it wasn’t worth it to go through that and so we decided to stop. It was better to not go through that torture.”